Coffee cakes are one of the staples in cafes and bakeries. A warm piece of coffee cake with a dark roasted cup of coffee or even a cold glass of milk...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. There are many, many variations of coffee cakes from a simple sugar crumb cake to fruit coffee cakes and even eggnog coffee cake. Today I'm doing traditional sugar-cinnamon mixed with sour cream and chocolate chips for something special. Moist sour cream coffee cake topped with a chocolate chip crumble? Sign me up for a piece or two!

Recipe

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Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cake

Servings: 10

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Chocolate cinnamon streusel

• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• ¼ cup cold butter cut into small pieces
• ⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Coffee cake

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter softened
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9 inch round pan with cooking spray or butter. Set aside.
• Prepare the streusel by combining ⅓ cup brown sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, and ¼ cup butter in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into the mixture using a pastry cutter or 2 forks until the mixture is well combined. Add ⅓ cup chocolate chips and stir to combine.
• To make the coffee cake, combine 1 ½ cups flour with 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl.
• Cream together ½ cup softened butter with ¾ cup brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredients to the batter alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mix.
• Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle streusel on top in an even layer. Bake coffee cake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

What qualifies as a coffee cake? Basically, any cake that you eat with coffee can be considered a coffee cake. Some coffee cakes have a streusel while others may have a light glaze, the options are endless. This sour cream coffee cake is a cinnamon-spiced dessert with a chocolate streusel, just a little something special to set it over the edge.

Although there is chocolate in this streusel, I find that it's such a small amount that it doesn't sweeten up the cake too much. You can substitute this with toffee or nuts if you like, or just eliminate it altogether.

You want to make the streusel first because the batter comes together quite quickly. To make the cake, cream the butter with the sugar and add the eggs one at a time, making sure the egg is fully incorporated. Then add the sour cream and dry ingredients, alternating between the two. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the streusel on top.

The first time I made this coffee cake, I spread a layer of the streusel in between the batter and on top to create layers. As appealing as this was, the cake was just too sweet. Lesson learned, one layer is plenty!

This sour cream coffee cake was exactly what I wanted: moist, with a hint of cinnamon and little bites of chocolate. What more can you ask for in a coffee cake? What's your favorite way to prepare this popular dessert?

For more cake inspiration check out this peach crumble Kefir cake!